Supervisor Meaning
/ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities.
nounA person who monitors someone to make sure they comply with rules or other requirements set for them.
Sentence Examples
The supervisor enforced the rules here in this factory.
You must act under the leadership of your supervisor.
I have a meeting with my supervisor about my research topic.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The factory workers all report to their ____, who checks their work daily for errors.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I need to speak with your ____ about the recent delay in the delivery of the new office furniture today.
Word Origin & History
Attested since the 15th century C.E.; from Middle English supervisor, supervisour, supervysor, supervysour, from Latin supervīsor, from supervideō, in turn from super + videō. By surface analysis, supervise + -or.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Thus, today, even if the objective does seem "goalish," the supervisor assumes the problem inherent in trying to "accomplish" that goal will become clear to the librarian as the action plan evolves […]"
— 1985, Drexel Library Quarterly, volume 21, page 104:
"The 1999 merger between Citibank (banking) and Travelers (insurance) created the model for megafinance and confirmed new challenges for supervisors."
— 2001, Wendy Dobson, Gary Hufbauer, World Capital Markets, →ISBN, page 103:
"I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did."
— 2012, Kathryn M. Johnson, The Insider's Guide to Supervising Government Employees:
"Kashruth fraud in Brooklyn. Seems a goon squad of fake mashgichim or kosher supervisors have been making their way around the neighborhoods pulling surprise ‘inspections’ on different shops and restaurants, selling them fancy-looking certificates to put in the window […]"
— 2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 24:
"The clock burst which enables the supervisor to housekeep the console input and output and to change program status is currently set to 200 ms."
— 1965, P. A. Crisman, The compatible time-sharing system: a programmer's guide, page 14:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The factory workers all report to their ____, who checks their work daily for errors.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I need to speak with your ____ about the recent delay in the delivery of the new office furniture today.